


Long for a Heart, Never Be Apart

by savanting



Category: Mulan (2020)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Post-Canon, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26337535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: After being injured during a botched robbery attempt in the Imperial City, Honghui returns home to his family’s farm — and a familiar young warrior girl visits him. One-Shot.
Relationships: Chen Honghui/Fa Mulan, Honghui/Mulan
Comments: 15
Kudos: 286





	Long for a Heart, Never Be Apart

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any Disney properties, such as _Mulan_ (2020). This is just a little rendering of another "what if" idea set after the film. I gave Honghui a sister because I think he'd be a great brother (even if the movie canon said he doesn't know how to talk to girls, suggesting that he doesn't have much experience with female family members either), so excuse the creative license there. I hope you all enjoy it.
> 
> The title comes from the English translation of a Chinese saying.

Meixiang was fussing over him again.

Honghui suppressed a sigh as his little sister inspected his bandages for the fifth time that day. It was only a slash, hardly worth mentioning at all, but it had been enough for his commander in the Imperial City to send him back home to recuperate while his wound healed. As for Meixiang, she was concerned the wound would become infected. Honghui, on the other hand, was simply worried that the wound would take so long to heal that he would lose some of his stamina from not training every day as he usually did.

He had never been one who was good at sitting still and doing nothing productive. Boredom was what he was most concerned about.

“Do you need anything?” Meixiang asked, her voice soft. “I can go to the market and see if they have those seeds you like to eat—”

“I’m fine, little sister,” he said. “Worry about yourself. Aren’t you meeting with the matchmaker soon?”

Meixiang’s face blossomed with a blush. “I’m trying not to think about it,” she admitted. “I have you and Father already. Will the gods even grant me a good husband when I’ve already had such good fortune with the men in my life?”

Honghui laughed. “I didn’t know you held us in such high esteem,” he replied in a teasing manner. “But really, Meixiang, you should look forward to your match. You’ll have one more man to boss around.”

When she responded by swatting him with a roll of bandage cloth, he just laughed again. But then Meixiang’s face turned pensive again.

“Why haven’t you been matched with anyone?” his sister asked, voice curious. “Father said you postponed your appointment with the matchmaker. _Again._ ”

The image of a girl with windblown black hair and a steady gaze walked into his mind’s eye. “I have my reasons,” he said evasively. “Besides, how can I rest unless my sister is happily married and settled? You’ll be the pride of whoever’s house you end up joining.”

A small smile graced Meixiang’s lips. “I don’t know if I would go that far, but hopefully I’ll be able to find someone who’s happiest when he’s with me.”

“Anyone would be lucky to have you, little sister,” he said.

“Enough with the flattery and charm, Honghui,” Meixiang said. “If you keep talking like that, no girl will ever think you’re serious about her and her alone.”

Honghui couldn’t help but remember the last time he had held a girl’s hand – the time he had reached out for Hua Mulan’s hand. “You may be right about that,” he acceded.

Then, perhaps to his detriment, he wondered how Hua Mulan was doing. And wondered too if she ever thought of him the way he thought of her.

*

Around midday, Honghui’s father returned from the fields, his brow glistening with sweat from the afternoon sun. Watching his father, he felt a sense of shame because he was home yet he couldn’t help out with the care of the crops. His father wouldn’t let him.

“Ah, Honghui,” his father said, “you have a visitor out front.”

Honghui looked up from his parchment and frowned. He had been home for days, yet no one from his village had deigned to visit him as of yet. As far as his comrades went, Honghui was pretty certain that one wouldn’t just show up from the Imperial City like that to visit a foot soldier like him.

Then his father added, “I wouldn’t keep a girl like that waiting for long.”

 _A girl?_ Then Honghui stood up so fast that he nearly stumbled over the table. 

The last thing he heard as he sprinted out of the room was his father’s laughter telling him that he looked like a right fool indeed. But Honghui didn’t care.

There was only one girl who would track him down to his remote village.

For the first time in a long while, Honghui grinned like an idiot and didn’t care one whit.

*

When Honghui saw the figure in the distance, near the abandoned stables where his family usually kept their animals, he had to school himself not to rush up to her and do such a bold thing as hugging her. His pace slowed, and the girl turned on her heel just in time for him to suppress the happiness that probably made his face glow like a second sun.

“Hua Mulan,” he said, trying to sound as serious and dignified as possible, “what brings you here?”

The young woman looked him up and down. “You hardly look like you’re on your death bed,” she said in a tentative tone of voice.

Honghui raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, and Mulan sighed. “Yao sent me a letter that you had been injured in a skirmish and that you were very ill.”

 _Thank the heavens for a liar like Yao._ He would have to thank his old comrade for granting him this boon.

Honghui cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I did stop a thief in the Imperial City, but his dagger caught me on the arm when he was trying to get away. It’s nothing more than a scratch, but my commander offered me time to come home and recuperate for a bit.”

“I see.” Honghui could tell the young woman was embarrassed from the way she avoided his eyes.

He couldn’t help the smile on his face. “Were you that worried about me? To come rushing to check on me?”

At first he thought she would deny it, but then she said, “Of course I was worried. I thought you were _dying_.”

Honghui watched her as she fiddled with the ends of her sleeves. _This girl,_ he thought, _is really something else. I really want to keep her._

But he could hardly say _that_ aloud.

“It’ll take a lot to kill me,” he assured her after a moment, “so rest easy. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

She met his eyes then as another smile flitted across her face. “Is that a promise?”

“If you want it to be, then it is,” he said. “I’ll try not to let you down.”

Mulan just nodded, her eyes skittering from his again, and he knew it would be a while before he could voice his every thought about her aloud since they were both still dancing around this complicated new relationship they had. No longer comrades, no longer warriors fighting side by side in a war, no longer just acquaintances. They were something _more_ , as trite as that sounded.

Wherever this relationship went, Honghui would not regret it.

Then he said, “Come inside for a bit. You traveled all this way. I can hardly send you away without some hospitality.”

Mulan bridged the distance between them to stand at his side. “Do I get to meet the little sister you were always bragging about too?”

Honghui grinned. “Of course. She would kill me if she knew you had come here and she didn’t get the chance to meet you.”

“Oh?” Her eyes flitted up to meet his gaze. “So you’ve talked about me then.”

He could have kicked himself for the slip. “Er, just a little bit?”

But Mulan just laughed. “I hope you said nice things about me.”

Honghui just kept smiling at her. “Only the best, of course.”

Then together they walked to the house and another chapter in the unfurling pages that would be their burgeoning friendship – and whatever more the gods allowed it to be.


End file.
